Large quantities of low density fibrous materials such as cotton and the like are often bundled or baled for handling and storage. In a typical process, cotton is cleaned to separate the cotton fibers from sticks and other debris, and the cotton fibers are separated from the seed in a gin. The cotton (referred to as lint) is transported to a press or baler where it is compressed into a high density bundle or bale. Following compaction, the bale is secured to facilitate handling. The bale can be secured by multiple straps or wires to maintain the bale configuration and stability. One industry standard is to band the bale with eight (8) wires or straps around the shorter periphery of the bale.
Typically, the bale is then sampled and classed into a standard cotton class to identify the quality of the cotton. The bale is then wrapped for protection, for example, in a wrap or bag, to protect the cotton from exposure to the environs, dirt, debris or factors that can affect the cotton quality. Wrapping or bag materials include polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) polypropylene (PP), cotton and the like. The wrapped bale can then be transported for subsequent processing.
While the wrapping or bagging can help to prevent damage to the bale, the wrapping or bagging material itself can be damaged. For example, at ginning facilities, cotton bales are often stored two layers high, which can put a significant amount of strain on the bales, particularly the bottom bale. Also, the cotton bales stored in certain facilities have to be rearranged or moved from time to time, such as while being loaded onto a truck for delivery. Moreover, the configuration of cotton bales being stored in a warehouse or other storage facility has to be changed from time to time in order to optimize warehouse space. During this stacking and moving, and loading and unloading of the bales described above, the bales are frequently being pushed on an abrasive surface (e.g., concrete or asphalt flooring of a warehouse or storage facility) causing straps to break and bags or wrapping material to rupture.
U.S. Publication No. 2014/0158560 to Nyckowski et al. discloses a method and apparatus for containing a bale of compressible material without the use of straps or wires. The Nyckowski et al. publication discloses a press that has a bale box (i.e., four sides fixed that define the walls of a box) and upper and lower compression plates that compress the material in the box. The upper and lower compression plates have ribs that, when pressed into the bale, form grooves in the sides of the bale that are engaged by the plates. After compression, the bale expands. Typically, the bale expands more in the same direction in which it is compressed.
The device of Nyckowski also includes a transfer device and a bagger. The transfer device moves the compressed bale from the press to the bagger. The bagger includes an entrance and a mandrel on a discharge end thereof. During the baling operation, a bag is manually positioned on the mandrel and the compressed bale is urged from the bagger, through the mandrel and into the bag. The bag is pulled from the mandrel as the bale is pushed into the bag.
Manually positioning the bag on the mandrel is both labor and time intensive. An operator is required to unfold or unroll a bag, open the bag and properly orient the bag to pull it onto the mandrel. The operator must then pull the bag up onto the mandrel until the open end of the bag is at about the flange that secures the mandrel to bagger and so that the closed or sealed end of the bag is at the open end of the mandrel. In the event that the operator is away from the baler or not at the bagger station, the process can be slowed or can stop until the operator can properly position the bag on the mandrel.
There is therefore a need for an improved system for positioning a bag on the discharge mandrel of a bagger that increases efficiency in the bagging operation and reduces operator interface requirements.